This invention relates to improvements in driptype apparatus for brewing coffee, tea, or other beverages and, in particular, an improved microwave coffee maker and method of making coffee.
Microwave coffee makers are known to the art. They are generally of the type in which the coffee making apparatus, containing coffee grounds and water in separate compartments, is placed in a microwave oven to heat the water. In the prior art microwave coffee makers, when the water is sufficiently heated, it is then released from its own compartment and allowed to drip through the coffee grounds into a pitcher.
An example of such a microwave coffee maker is the Amana Radarange Microwave Oven Coffee Maker, as described in the instruction booklet that accompanies the product. This coffee maker includes a water reservoir having a thermally-controlled valve in the bottom. The reservoir is positioned above a filtering basket over a carafe. To make coffee, the desired amount of water is placed in the reservoir and a measured amount of coffee grounds is placed in the basket. The coffee maker is assembled with the reservoir placed above the basket on top of the carafe, the coffee maker is placed in a microwave oven, and the oven is turned on to heat the water. When the water is sufficiently heated, the thermally-controlled valve opens to allow the water to drip through the coffee grounds into the carafe below. The microwave oven is to be turned off when coffee begins to drip into the carafe.
The teaching of the coffee brewing art prior to this present invention has been that for best results the temperature of the water contacting the coffee grounds should be below the boiling point and above about 185.degree. F. (approx. 85.degree. C.). For example, the "Coffee Brewing Workshop Manual" of the Coffee Brewing Center of the Pan-American Coffee Bureau (Publication No. 54) states that the water temperature should be 200.degree. F. plus or minus 5.degree. F. (approx. 93.degree. C. plus/minus 3.degree. C.). And Ernest E. Lockhardt, in "Characteristics of Coffee Relating to Beverage Quality" (Coffee Brewing Institute, May 1959) recommends water temperatures above 185.degree. F. (approx. 85.degree. C.). Both references state that lower water temperatures will result in poor extraction and thereby detract from the quality of the brewed coffee. As a consequence of this teaching, it has typically been an objective in the art of coffee maker design, including those coffee makers for use in microwave ovens, to allow only sufficiently heated water (i.e., above approximately 185.degree. F. or 85.degree. C.) to come into contact with the coffee grounds.
Adherence to this objective has caused the prior art microwave coffee makers to suffer from certain disadvantages, however. One disadvantage is that the period of time required by these coffee makers to brew a pot of coffee is relatively lengthy, being approximately equal to the time it takes to heat the water to the desired temperature plus the time required for the water to drip through the coffee grounds.
Another disadvantage is that these coffee makers must utilize some means, such as the temperature controlled valve described above, for controlling the release of water onto the coffee grounds so that it does not occur until the water has been sufficiently heated in the reservoir. This requirement increases the complexity of the prior art coffee makers.